This is one of those things I've never heard of before. Have you ever lost a piece of luggage? Where does it end up? It ends up in Scottsboro, Alabama. The Unclaimed Baggage store is 50,000 square feet and it receives 7,000 new items a day from around the country.
How did this start? Doyle Owens had a friend who worked at Trailways bus service and his friend told him he had mountains of unclaimed luggage and he didn't know what to do with it. Owens, borrowed $300 and sold a Chevy pick-up and drove to Washington D.C. to get the luggage. He put ads in the newspaper that they were having a sale and mobs of people showed up.
How popular is this place? They get 1 million visitors a year which is more than some real tourist attractions. Items are sold for 20-80% less than retail. They once sold a Rolex for $32,000 at half price.
They also have a museum in the store with unusual items like a suit of armor, a set of bagpipes, and a Gucci bag with Egyptian artifacts. There are some people who visit the store more than once a day to find bargains.
Will this ever end? It's not likely since 7 out of every 1,000 pieces of luggage are lost each year. Although 99.5% of those bags get back to the owner, the others wind up in your friendly neighborhood unclaimed baggage store in Alabama.
No comments:
Post a Comment